Carpet roller

ABSTRACT

A carpet roller for quickly tacking a carpet to a tack strip. The carpet roller has toothed wheels which are adapted to ride over and between the tacks of a tack strip without damaging the tacks while depressing the mat of a carpet between the tacks.

United States Patent Robert A. Sparks Clearwater, Fla.

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[54] CARPET ROLLER 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

ABSTRACT: A carpet roller for quickly tacking a carpet to a tack strip. The carpet roller has toothed wheels which are adapted to ride over and between the tacks of a tack strip without damaging the tacks while depressing the mat of a carpet between the tacks.

. [50] FieldofSearch...........................................

CARPET ROLLER This invention relates to a carpet roller; more particularly, this invention relates to a carpet roller for tacking a carpet to a strip.

The customary procedure in laying a carpet is to first fasten to the floor a tack strip. The carpet is then stretched and tacked to the tack strip to maintain it in its laid position. The tack strip is simply an elongated strip of wood or metal with a plurality of spaced tacks projecting upwardly therefrom in one or more rows. It is normally secured to the floor along the margin of the carpet. After the carpet is stretched, it is tacked to the tack strip by being depressed over and between the tacks.

Unfortunately, present tools for tacking a carpet to a tack strip are not satisfactory. These tools may be classified as blunt instruments, such as a hammer, which are used to depress the carpet over the tack strip. One disadvantage of these tools is that they usually bend or blunt the sharp end of the tacks in depressing the carpet. Since the tacks are bent, the tack strip usually cannot be usedover again and further, the bent tacks tend to rip the rug when the rug is lifted for cleaning or other purposes. In addition, bent tacks make the rug difficult to remove. Another disadvantage of these tools is that because they do not engage the carpet's mat, but rather its nap, a springy or elastic-type surface, they do not engage a solid surface to push against. Consequently, the mat is not depressed sufficiently below the surface of the tacks to be retained securely. Still another disadvantage is that it is unduly time consuming to tack a carpet to a tack strip when utilizing present tools. As a consequence, more man-hours than necessary is needed to lay the carpet which increases the cost to the consumer.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a carpet roller for tacking a carpet to a tack strip.

Another object is to provide a carpet roller with toothed wheels to engage and depress a mat of a carpet between the tacks of a tack strip as the wheels are rolled over the carpet.

Still another object is to provide a carpet roller with toothed wheels which are adapted to ride over and between the tracks of a tack strip without damaging the tacks while depressing the mat of a carpet between the tacks.

A further object is to provide a carpet roller with toothed wheels which are adapted to ride over and substantially between a multiple row of tacks on a tack strip.

A 'still further object is to provide a carpet roller which may be manipulated adjacent a vertical wall.

Another object is to provide a carpet roller for quickly and easily tacking a carpet to a tack strip. I

Another object is to provide a carpet roller for tacking a carpet to a tack strip which is compact, simple in construction, economical in cost, reliable in operation, and practical in cost, reliable in operation, and practical to manufacture.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

In accordance with these objects, the carpet roller comprises a plurality of toothed wheels freely rotatably mounted and rotatably relative to each other. The wheels are mounted on a pair of axles attached to the base of an upright frame. As the carpet roller is rolled over the carpet above a tack strip, the tooth ends of the wheels protrude through the carpets nap and engage its mat, depressing it between the tacks. The ends of the teeth are adapted to ride over and between the tracks without damaging them. The carpet roller is manipulated by a handle which is offset to the upper end of the frame to allow the roller to be manipulated adjacent a vertical wall.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings; in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the carpet roller illustrating how it is utilized.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the wheels of the carpet roller taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional side elevation view of the carpet roller showing the manner in which the wheels depress a mat of a carpet downwardly between the tacks of a tack strip as a roller is rolled over the carpet.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the FIGS. in detail, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a perspective view of the carpet roller 6 showing the manner in which it is utilized in tacking a carpet 8 to a tack strip 10. To clearly show the base of the roller, the roller is shown slightly above the carpet.

The carpet roller comprises a frame 12 having an upstanding metal plate 114 connected at its base to a pair of identical U-shaped axle housings 116 as shown.

Each axle housing supports a rigid stationary axle 20. Freely rotatably mounted on axles 20 and rotatable relative to each other are a plurality of identical, disclike, toothed wheels 22. As best seen in FIG. 2, washerlike spacers 23 are provided to separate the wheels 22. This provision allows the wheels to ride between tack 24 of tack strip 10 without the tacks being wedged between adjacent wheels and consequently damaged. Instead of spacers 23, the wheels maybe spaced by being formed with integral elongated hubs. As mentioned, each wheel is identical. It has a sharp tooth end 26 for projecting through a nap 27 of carpet 8 to engage the carpet's mat 29, and for sliding over and end of a tack instead of riding on top of it as a blunt tooth end might do. Yet, the tooth is not too sharp such that it would tear through the nap. As shown in FIG. 3, the teeth ends 26 are separated sufiiciently to allow a tack 24 to enter between them. Further, the base 30 of the teeth is of a sufficient depth to allow the wheel to ride over the tacks without the tacks bottoming against it and being damaged.

A wooden or plastic offset handle 31 is attached to one side of the upper end of plate 14. By attaching the handle in this manner, the handle may be gripped as shown in FIG. I and the carpet roller manipulated adjacent a verticaL wall 23 as shown.

The operation of the carpet roller will now be described with reference to particularly FIGS. 1 and 3. After the tack strip 10, having a plurality of tacks in three aligned rows 32, is secured to a floor 34, the carpet 8 may be tacked to the tack strip by rolling wheels 22 over the carpet while manually maintaining a downward pressure on the handle. As should be obvious the roller is preferably rolled in a direction corresponding to the longitudinal axis of tack strip 10.

If the carpet is to be secured firmly to the tack strip, the carpet should be depressed between the tacks until it rests on the upper base of the tack strip. Advantageously, this is accomplished by the carpet roller without damage to the tacks. Being sharp, the toothed ends 26 of wheels 22 project through the carpets nap 27 and engage the carpets mat 29. This is important as unlike the springly surface of the nap, the mat provides a solid surface to push against. As the toothed ends 26 depress the mat, they ride over and between the tacks as shown. In this manner the mat is firmly depressed between the tacks at the base of the tack strip. Since each wheel is freely mounted and rotatably relative to each other, each wheel that encounters a tack may slip or slide over it such that the tack is guided into the opening between the teeth of the wheels. In this manner, the tacks are not bent or otherwise damaged enabling the tack strip to be used over again and also enabling the carpet to be easily removed from the tack strip for cleaning or when otherwise desired.

Although a pair of wheeled axles as indicated above is preferred for greater stability, it is to be understood that the carpet roller may be adapted with only one wheeled axle instead. Also, although a plurality of toothed wheels on each axle is preferred, a singular, freely rotatable, relatively wide wheel on each axle may be provided for use with tack strips having only one row of tacks.

Advantageously, the tool can also be used in seaming a carpet. Normally, this is accomplished by abutting two ends of the carpet over an adhesive tape; then pressing the carpet downwardly against the tape so that they will be secured to one another. Ifthe carpet is to be firmly secured to the tape, it is important that all air bubbles between the tape and the mat of the carpet be removed. This is difficult to do by present tools which merely act on the carpets nap. The naps springy surface prevents a solid force from being applied to the mat to remove the air bubbles between the mat and the tape. On the other hand, when the present carpet roller is rolled over the carpet, since the tooth ends of the wheels project through the nap and engage the mat, a positive force is applied to remove all air bubbles. Consequently, a firm, adhesive joint is produced.

it should now be evident from the above description that a novel carpet roller for quickly and effectively tacking a carpet to a tack strip has been provided. THe roller has toothed wheels whose ends are adapted to engate the mat of the carpet and depress the carpet against the base of the tack strip as the roller is rolled over the carpet. These ends are further adapted to ride over between the tacks without damaging them while depressing the mat. Therefore, it enables the tack strip to be used over again and further allows the carpet to be easily removed from the tack strip when cleaning or when otherwise desired. The handle of the tool enables the roller to be manipulated closely to a vertical wall without interference. The carpet roller is simple in construction, reliable in operation, compact and practical and economically feasible to manufacture.

it will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, language, is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Now that the invention has been described:

What is claimed is:

l. A carpet roller device for tacking carpet to a tack strip comprising a frame including an upstanding plate extending along the longitudinal axis of said device, at least two inverted U-shaped axle housings connected to said plate in spaced successive relation to each other, each of said axle housing having at least one axle mounted transversely to said upstanding plate and connected to the sides of said axle housing, each of said axles having a plurality of sharp-toothed wheels rotatably mounted thereon, each of said wheels having a base being at least as deep as the upstanding tack in the tack strip, whereby the tacks will not bottom against said base thereby damaging the tacks, a spacer placed between each of said plurality of toothed wheels whereby said toothed wheels will be maintained in substantially parallel, spaced relationship said spacer being of sufficient depth from said sharp teeth whereby said spacer will roll over and not contact said upstanding tacks, means for gripping said frame comprising a handle fixedly attached to the upper end of one side of said upstanding plate, whereby said gripping means is offset relative to the longitudinal axis of said frame such that the roller may be gripped and manipulated without interference with an adjacent wall. 

1. A carpet roller device for tacking carpet to a tack strip comprising a frame including an upstanding plate extending along the longitudinal axis of said device, at least two inverted Ushaped axle housings connected to said plate in spaced successive relation to each other, each of sAid axle housing having at least one axle mounted transversely to said upstanding plate and connected to the sides of said axle housing, each of said axles having a plurality of sharp-toothed wheels rotatably mounted thereon, each of said wheels having a base being at least as deep as the upstanding tack in the tack strip, whereby the tacks will not bottom against said base thereby damaging the tacks, a spacer placed between each of said plurality of toothed wheels whereby said toothed wheels will be maintained in substantially parallel, spaced relationship said spacer being of sufficient depth from said sharp teeth whereby said spacer will roll over and not contact said upstanding tacks, means for gripping said frame comprising a handle fixedly attached to the upper end of one side of said upstanding plate, whereby said gripping means is offset relative to the longitudinal axis of said frame such that the roller may be gripped and manipulated without interference with an adjacent wall. 